Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Adverse effects of Rats being fed GM corn

Two articles about Rats being fed GM corn due for sale in Britain developed abnormalities in blood and kidneys

The Independent on Sunday can today reveal details of secret research carried out by Monsanto, the GM food giant, which shows that rats fed the modified corn had smaller kidneys and variations in the composition of their blood raising fears that human health could be affected by eating GM food. According to the confidential 1,139-page report, these health problems were absent from another batch of rodents fed non-GM food as part of the research project.

2nd articleDr Arpad Pusztai was then the bogeyman of the British scientific establishment. No less a figure than Lord May - then the Government's chief scientific adviser, now president of the Royal Society - had accused him of violating "every canon of scientific rectitude", and ministers and top scientists had queued up to denounce him.

His punishment was draconian; his research was stopped, his team disbanded and his data confiscated (see box). He was ostracised by his colleagues, forced into retirement and gagged for seven months, forbidden to put his case. I was the first journalist to interview him at length, spending six hours with him.

Those who were the vanguards of asking for scientific proof that HIV causes AIDS also lost their funding and were ostracized by their colleagues. You really have to question this type of practice.